TirumalaTirupatiBalajiTemple has launched a fast darshan facility at the temple known as Seegra Darshan for those who have money and do not have the patience to stand in the long queue. The cost of the new quick darshan ticket is 300 rupees and this will provide speedy access to offer worship of Lord Venkateswara. The centuries old free darshan facility still continues but the wait is long.

The popular Rs 50 'darshan' facility ticket would also continue. But issuance of Archana Ananthara Darshan (AAD) tickets and Cellar Darshan tickets has been stopped from October 21, 2009.

Under the new system, devotees buying Rs 300 ticket will be allowed to enter the shrine through a separate queue.

It is said that the quick 'darshan' system has been introduced to put a stop to cases of recommendations from influential quarters, to provide speedy access for viewing the deity and also check the middlemen menace.

I personally feel all such tickets should be stopped and there should only be one queue – the traditional darshan queue where the poor, the rich, the powerful wait to get a glimpse of Lord Venkateswara.

Such paid darshan hurts millions of poor Hindu devotees who barely manage the travel expenses needed to reach the abode of Balaji. The poor devotees are at the shrine to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateswara to have a better life. But even at the shrine money rules and poor devotees are pushed back.

It is said in the Srimad Bhagavad Purana that Lord only enjoyed three meals on earth – Firstly Lord was pleased with the sweat-drenched beaten rice (Poha or Aval) of the poor Kuchela, which even contained mud. HE was then satisfied with the remnants of food that Draupadi was forced to give in a precarious situation in the Mahabharat. HE was satisfied with the gruel that Vidura gave in his humble abode when he was the messenger before the Mahabharat battle.

When will people realize that Lord Balaji is not influenced by power and money but by pure devotion? Some devotees might be impatient but the Lord is never impatient He patiently waits for his poor devotee who has to pass through several man-made barriers.